Dead Hearts Can Love Too
by India Watson
Summary: Miriam Jameson has always been different. Being the only daughter of Apollo in forever tended to do that to you. But what happens when she and a certain son of Hades are dragged into an important quest that could stop a civil war between the Gods?
1. All You Had To Do Was Ask

**A/N- Woot! New story! I'm probably just going to put this one chapter up and then I'm going to leave it for a while, until I get into my Where The Wild Things Are story. But just wanted to put this up so I can put it out there. This also completely disregards the next book series that Rick Riordan has got coming out.**

**

* * *

**

TITLE: DEAD HEARTS CAN LOVE TOO

**Chapter One- All You Had To Do Was Ask**

Have you ever known what it's like to have a crushing expectancy on you?

No, I don't think you do. Not in the way that I have a crushing expectancy. You see, I am a daughter of Apollo. There hasn't been a daughter of Apollo in since, well...forever, I guess. My name is Miriam Arianna Dorothy Elizabeth Jameson, and I'm 15 years old. I came to Half-Blood Camp aged 8.

Everyone expects me to be something special. Just because of the gender that I was born. People expect special powers, incredible fighting ability and outstanding leadership skills. Which is why everyone was disappointed when I showed none of these things. I'm completely ordinary. So everyone's decided to place their hopes on my 16th birthday. Maybe then I will be able to bench-press a bus above my head.

* * *

Raising my pom-poms above my head, I called out the chant that all of my fellow cheerleaders were currently calling out. It was Saturday and was about dusk and the sun was slowly setting. Yes, I cheerlead. It's all a part of fitting in for a half-blood. We're all so freakish that we tend not to fit in and we end up being misfits and exceedingly unpopular. And then there's also the small matter that we regularly get attacked by monsters and tend to get blamed for it because we're the creepy new kids. I've managed to stay at this school for two years and I'm proud of that.

Oh course, that was blown to the Underworld when I saw _him._

_Him _was the one person that I really didn't want to see on a day like this. He was sitting on the bleachers like he owned the place. Which pissed me off to no end. Killing him seemed like a good idea. But then again I supposed that would piss Hades off to no end and he'd let the hellhounds and Furies out of the Underworld to torment me for all of my short life.

"Take a break ladies" the cheer captain, Mallory St Vincent yelled out.

I watched him from the field and I was pretty sure that he was watching me. Wearing his customary black skull T-Shirt, black low-slung jeans, silver aviator shades and his aviator's jacket lying by the side of him, you'd have to be blind not to think that Nico di Angelo was hot. He was easily the hottest boy at camp. But his hotness was completely diminished for me by the fact that he had an ego the size of Texas. Of course, most of the girls at camp would say that that was all a part of his hotness. We'd never gotten on. In fact, I hated him.

I was brought abruptly back to reality by my fellow cheerleaders whisperings behind me, "He is so hot! Who does he know here?"

"Whomever it is she is one lucky woman. Maybe we should go and talk to him."

I froze up at that. The last thing that I wanted was for anyone from my school to be talking to him. He'd probably mention something about camp or pretend that me and him had a history and destroy the good rep that I had at this school.

I practically sprinted across the field towards him. I ran up the bleachers and seized him by the upper arm, dragging him down the steps and under the bleachers. I turned him to face me and glared at him.

He arched an eyebrow, "If wanted to make out under the bleachers, all you had to do was ask."

"Get bent, di Angelo" I snapped and he chuckled. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"All in good time, sweetheart." His eyes slid up and down my body, resting on my legs for a mite too long before sliding back up to my face, "Nice. Never would've thought it but the cheerleading thing works for you."

I blushed bright red and he laughed. "Shut up, di Angelo! And don't call me sweetheart! Besides what's wrong with me cheerleading?"

"I just never saw you as a cheerleader. I saw the Aphrodite and the Demeter girls as cheerleaders but never you. It just doesn't seem like a 'you' kind of thing."

"We all have to fit in somehow" I said, looking around him and from under the bleachers. I could see my fellow cheerleaders had banded into one large group and were pointing at the bleachers and whispering. I realised that I would have to get Nico out of here before he could destroy my reputation entirely or worse, he would insist that he could meet my friends.

"You don't enjoy cheerleading?"

"Sometimes." I replied, looking up at him. Nico was 6'4 and was at least a head taller than me. I stood at 5'9 and was taller than most girls of my age but at Camp Half-Blood I was relatively small.

"You'd really do something that you don't enjoy, just to fit in?"

"I'm already out-of-the-ordinary, I might as well do something to fit in."

"Well, I like your way of fitting in" Nico said roguishly, giving me another once over with his eyes and winking at me.

I rolled my eyes, "What do you want with me?"

He appraised with something in his eyes that I couldn't quite name, "I need your help" he said without preamble.

"No" I replied, no hesitation in my voice.

He feigned looking hurt, "You don't even know what it is and you're already turning me down!"

"I don't need to know. If it concerns you, it tends to be bad" I replied glaring at him. "With what, anyway?"

"You agree to help me and I'll tell you."

"No dice." I replied and turned to walk out from under the bleachers. I felt his arm wrap around my wrist and drag me back. He pulled me up against him and wrapped his arms around my waist to make sure I couldn't escape. He leant in to kiss me, but I snapped my head left, so that his lips met my cheek. He chucked in my ear and I struggled to control my breathing.

"What do you want me to help you with?" I said, my voice coming out a great deal shakier than I had intended it to be.

I felt him smirk against my ear, "Agree to help me and then I'll tell you."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine, I'll help you but if it turns out to be something ridiculous then no way."

He pulled back from me and his face was now serious. A little bit of anxiety lodged in my chest as I studied his face. He never normally looked this serious unless it was something important. "My father sent me to capture an escaped soul but I don't know where he is and I need you to help me locate him."

"Why is this soul important?"

"He's a mass murderer from Venezuela and he'd just been judged to go to the Fields of Punishment when someone broke him out of the jail my father had him in and set him free. And we think that someone important set him free."

"How important?"

"Minor god important."

I sucked in a breath, "You've got your work cut out, di Angelo. Why do you need me?"

He shrugged, "It was by pure chance that I found you, to be honest. And I need an extra set of hands, ears and eyes. And you're actually pretty good when it comes to rituals and stuff like this. Good with Ancient Greek and all that. So will you help?"

"I'll help you but this had better be quick."

"Excellent" Nico appeared buoyant about this and he dragged me across to the shadowy end of the bleachers, "You don't have practice anymore, do you?"

"No, but- Nico!" the last part of my sentence came out as a scream as he dragged me into the dark, wrapped his arms around me and we shadow-travelled to somewhere that was probably nowhere good.

* * *

We materialised into the shadows of a graveyard and the tugging sensation in my gut that had meant that we were moving, disappeared. It was a typical graveyard with old, broken headstones and iron, ornate gates. A warm wind swept through the graveyard, causing the willow trees that were after every fourth gravestone to swing dreamily. The air smelt of sea salt and it was clear to me that we were no longer in New York.

I realised that Nico still had his arms wrapped around me and that I was holding onto him tightly, my arms around his waist. My head was buried into his chest and his head was resting on top of my head, his face pressing into my hair. I lifted my head up and unwound my arms from him. I heard him chuckle and he let me go, looking down at me with laughing brown eyes.

I scowled up at him, "A little warning next time would be nice!"

"Ah, come on, Jameson! It wasn't that bad. I think you secretly liked being pressed up against me" He laughed, a dirty smirk taking over his face.

Shoving him in the chest, I glared at him before asking, "Where the hell are we, anyway?"

"New Orleans. This is where the guy was buried and where the imprint of him will be the strongest." He slipped his rucksack off of his shoulder and pulled out a paper bag and a sheet of paper. Opening the sheet of paper he said, "Right, the grave should be somewhere along this row and his name is Ricardo Soliz". I looked along the row of gravestones. It stretched out a long way.

Sighing, I began to walk along the gravestones, checking the name. Nico had jogged up the other end of the graveyard and was walking along towards me. This was clearly a pauper's graveyard. The gravestones only had name and date of birth printed in neat block capitals. I stopped as I looked at the sky. Nightfall was fast approaching and pretty soon, he wouldn't be able to see. Being a child of Apollo we can see in any light. It would have to be completely dark for us not see anything. So the street-lamp in the corner would cause me to be able to see the entire graveyard as if it were a clear day.

Walking I stopped as I peered down at one grave, "Ricardo Soliz, right?" I called out to him. Nico jogged down to stand behind me. He shone his torch light on the gravestone.

"Well done, Jameson" he said, as he peered down at the gravestone. "Guess we'd better start setting up if we want to be ready for nightfall."

"Nico, how could a god just pull him out of the Underworld?" I questioned nervously as he began to get out a few bottles and a suspicious looking brown paper bag.

He looked across at me and I saw the worry in his expression. I realised that he wasn't entirely sure how whomever the god was had done it and that this bugged him, "I don't know. The summoning that I'm going to do should pull him back her so that we can re-kill him and send him back. But I'm worried that whatever god pulled him out of there will realise what is going on her and come along for the ride.

"So swords at the ready?" I asked, as I flipped open the knife that I kept concealed at my waist. The celestial bronze gleamed in the light.

He smiled, "You can keep my sword until the guy appears and then just chuck it over to me." He handed me his sword. I examined it. It was a short sword with a thick blade. I knew that his sword was made of Stygian iron. It had wicked symbols dancing down both sides and I got the feeling that these were ancient magic incarnations intended to protect the user.

Nico sat down in front of the empty grave that we had found and poured some of the drink from the bottle into the grave and chucked in the beef burger that he had been keeping in the paper bag. He began to chant. I couldn't tell what he was saying but Ricardo Soliz was mentioned more than once. The air began to grow colder and colder. Being a child of Apollo we tend to be able to be able to sense the slightest shift in temperature. The mist that had already been hanging around in the air began to come in closer and had a faintly sulphur-like smell to it. The night became scary and I shifted uncomfortably. Nico continued to chant in Ancient Greek and his voice became louder and more commanding.

All of a sudden, the mist that had enveloped us rushed to the space between Nico and I. It created a human form and began to solidify. Nico continued to chant, almost shouting now, as the figure became distinguishable and began to change colour to become human.

All of a sudden, Nico stopped chanting and the misty figure bent over and solidified properly into a man. He had olive skin and black hair and a ridiculous goatee on his chin. He heaved in a few deep breaths and straightened up. He couldn't have been taller than me and had a slight paunch at his waist and I had a hard time imagining this guy as a mass murderer.

"Where the fuck am I?"

**

* * *

**

A/N- And that's that. Read and review!


	2. Work Those Magic Hands

**A/N- I actually enjoy writing this story. It makes me really happy for some reason.**

* * *

_Last time on Dead Hearts Can Love Too..._

_All of a sudden, Nico stopped chanting and the misty figure bent over and solidified properly into a man. He had olive skin and black hair and a ridiculous goatee on his chin. He heaved in a few deep breaths and straightened up. He couldn't have been taller than me and had a slight paunch at his waist and I had a hard time imagining this guy as a mass murderer._

"_Where the fuck am I?"_

* * *

**Chapter Two- Work Those Magic Hands**

I didn't even hesitate.

I hurled the sword straight at Nico who caught it deftly in his left hand. I backed off behind a gravestone. There was no point in me trying to get involved in the fight. I had no weapon-save for a flick knife- and I would be more likely to hinder than actually help. Besides, Nico could handle it. He was the best sword fighter at camp.

Soliz meanwhile had collapsed into a ball on the floor and had tucked himself underneath himself, back up to the sky. Nico lifted his sword and swung downwards, only to have it stopped by another blade that appeared out of nowhere. And I mean literally nowhere because the hand was growing into an arm, a shoulder, a torso, legs...

"Nemesis!" Soliz said, getting up from his impression of a hamster.

Nico swore a few times, teaching a fishwife some new curses and swung straight at the goddess with a decapitating strike that would have killed anyone else but, being a goddess, she simply blocked it. Soliz and I stood next to each other watching with rapt attention as Nico and Nemesis went head on head, strike for strike. We were so absorbed with the fight that we forgot about each other until I saw him shift out of the corner of my eye.

I turned to look at him and pulled my knife out. He saw, turned tail and streaked off into the night with me following in close pursuit. We swerved round graves and leapt over gravestones until eventually I caught up with him. He tripped and I put my foot on the gravestone, launched myself in the air and came down hard on top of him. We both rolled, leapt up but before he could run again I nailed him in the chest with a kick and knocked him over. He attempted to scrabble up again but I decided to be adventurous and did a cartwheel, hitting him in the chest again. Then, crouching down, I sank my knife into his heart.

I fully expected an explosion of blood or his chest to cave in or something dramatic. But instead, he exploded into dust which was what happened to something that came from the Underworld. I looked down at the pile of dirt on the floor.

Traditionally, when someone was resurrected they came from the Underworld and Hades would give them back their human body and so would die like any human would do. Something only exploded into dust when it came from the primordial liquid that made up the world's monster population. This meant that Soliz had been taken from the Underworld illegally and his soul had been thrown into the primordial nastiness to make him harder to kill. This explained why I had had difficulty in catching up with him, his muscles and reflexes had been improved but his fighting had not been as he had never been trained.

My musing about how Soliz had got here and why we had been able to summon him was abruptly interrupted by a loud shout of pain from the other end of the graveyard. _Nico. _I hurled myself down the other end of the graveyard to see Nico in a ball on the floor clutching at his ribs while the goddess stood over him. She turned to face me and I began to back up, painfully aware of my fighting inadequacies and the fact that I only had a flick knife.

She glared at me, "You will pay for his death, daughter of Apollo."

With that, she burst into her immortal form. I averted my eyes to the ground and only lifted them when the light had completely disappeared. Nico gave a pitiful groan on the ground. I rushed over and coaxed him out of his ball. His fingers were clamped tightly over what looked like a deep wound. Blood leaked at a worrying pace from between his fingers. I heaved him up to a standing postion. He leaned heavily on me and his face was even paler than normal.

"Nico, I need you to focus." I whispered in his ear. "We need to get back to my apartment so I can treat you." I clamped my fingers over his wound as well, attempting to stop the blood flow that had become more rapid as we had stood up. "My apartment's on the West side. Just focus please."

This seemed to wake him up and he made an effort to stand more independently. His face screwed up, I gripped onto him tighter and we disappeared. The feeling of travelling was even worse this time and when we landed in my apartment, I let go of Nico as vertigo overtook me. I was dimly aware of a loud crash as I sunk to my knees on the floor, black spots invading my vision. Eventually, everything cleared up and I looked around for Nico.

He was lying flat on the floor, spread-eagled, having immediately passed out the second we arrived. I scrambled over and heaved him onto the kitchen table to treat. The medical box that we kept under the sink for all injuries was heaved out and flung open quickly.

Our medical box was a thing of wonder. Owing to the fact that there were three demigods living in one apartment, we frequently got injured for small things. So we kept a well-stocked medical box. There was an assortment of medical equipment; some of which all medical boxes would have, some of which most medical boxes wouldn't including scalpels and other stitching, slicing and suction equipment, a defibrillator and a device that could create an airway. We even had a miniature version of a life support machine.

I grabbed out what I needed and started to treat.

* * *

It was four hours later.

I had cleaned, swabbed and stitched close Nico's wound. Luckily, the blade had gone in below his fourth rib on the right side and so hadn't damaged anything. By any standards, it was as clean and neat a wound as any demigod was likely to get. Afterwards, I had put him on the sofa and given him time to sleep it off. I had also had a nap myself. Healing the wound had sapped a lot of my energy. But, if we were lucky, his wound should already have healed shut and there would only be an angry red scar where it had once been.

Now, I cooked a dinner of macaroni cheese. I had made up two portions for when Nico awoke and had heated up some nectar and ambrosia because when he woke up, he would feel like hell. He would need some food in his system, no matter how stubborn he was going to be about it. As if on cue, a groan emanated from the lounge. I placed the macaroni cheese onto a plate, poured the nectar into a glass and walked into the lounge where Nico had somehow hauled himself into a sitting position.

His head was in his hands and if anything he looked even more deathly pale than before (if that was possibly). I handed him the nectar which he eagerly drank and then the plate of macaroni cheese.

He winced and started, "I'm not really-"

"Eat it." I interrupted pointedly.

Even in his state, he managed to be lecherous, raising a flirtatious eyebrow. "You really like telling me what to do, don't you?"

"Only because you're so good at following orders."

"Don't press your luck." He chuckled back.

We sat in silence for ten minutes while he ate the food. Once he had finished, he sat back and closed his eyes.

I slapped his arm. "Don't fall asleep! I need to check your wound and re-dress."

He groaned in annoyance. "Can't we just do that later? I'm tired, you're tired, let's just go to sleep."

"Nope."

I carefully lifted up his T-Shirt and began to undo the knot that I had tied in just to the left of the wound. Nico was ripped. I hadn't noticed before, what with panicking so much about the amount of blood that was pouring from the wound. He had a six pack of taut tight muscles leading up to a muscled torso. He wasn't overly muscled, just enough in proportion to his size. My fingers eventually undid the knot and I unwound the bandage and peeled off the dressing. My earlier prediction had been correct. His wound had closed up and all that was left was an angry red scar.

"How's it look?" Nico asked.

"It's closed-up, bit angry and red but that'll go down. I don't think its infected."

"Worked those magic hands, did you?" He said, a dirty smirk twisting his mouth.

I didn't reply. The best response to a Nico come-on was to ignore him. Eventually he asked another question:

"Will it scar?"

"Don't think so."

"Good."

He lay back on the cushions and closed his eyes again. He was clearly exhausted and although he wasn't saying anything, I knew he was in pain. He needed some more nectar. I slapped in the same place on his arm.

His eyes flew open in annoyance, "Must you do that?"

"You're in pain." I replied. "You need some more nectar."

"I'm fine." He answered back, sounding more and more patronising. Normally, I would've flared up but he was exhausted and so I didn't get as angry as I would have before.

"Bullshit."

I walked into the kitchen and poured some nectar. I was careful to pour it into a small glass. We didn't want him to suddenly spontaneously combust, although it would probably be the funniest thing that I'd ever seen. I quickly brought it back through to him. To my surprise, he drank it without complaint. The nectar seemed to perk him up considerably more and he stood up and began to collect his things.

He looked down at me and I sensed he was awkward, "I'm gonna have to go now. Got to go and tell my dad how everything went."

"Are you sure? You could stay for a little longer if you wanted." I must be insane, offering Di Angelo the opportunity to stay with me and pry into my personal life.

He looked a little torn for a few seconds but then his features composed into that half-serious, half-flirtatious mark he always wore, "Good to see you want to keep me around for a little bit longer, Jameson, but I'm not that easy. I expect a little more courting before we leap into anything." He winked down at me. "See you around."

And with that he walked off down the hallway and opened the front door. He blew me a kiss and then he was gone.

* * *

**A/N- Finally a second chapter! Sorry, I've had a lot of work to do . AS Levels are not the breeze I was expecting. But then again, things rarely are!**


	3. Mad Lady Moments

**A/N- Feeling productive (: got a big long empty summer in which to possibly finish a story. I own none of this!**

* * *

_Last time on Dead Hearts Can Love Too..._

_He looked a little torn for a few seconds but then his features composed into that half-serious, half-flirtatious mark he always wore, "Good to see you want to keep me around for a little bit longer, Jameson, but I'm not that easy. I expect a little more courting before we leap into anything." He winked down at me. "See you around."_

_And with that he walked off down the hallway and opened the front door. He blew me a kiss and then he was gone. _

* * *

It was a bright Saturday morning.

The sun was shining, people were outside, the streets were bustling and the temperature had to be at least 30 degrees. On a day like this, I would normally have been outside on the roof, sunbathing obsessively. Children of Apollo always got a tan easily and by the end of the summer, I was normally a deep brown. But I was inside, inside and packing for camp. Jamie and I were headed to camp by taxi for the rest of the summer. If I didn't get a move on, I was going to be late. Jamie's my brother. He's five days younger than me and everyone says that we could be twins so similar looking are we.

"Katie, do you know where my light shield is?" I shouted into the corridor. "I swear to Hades, it's not in my room and Jamie's going to be here any minute and-"

"Woah!," Katie said as she came out of the lounge, "Here's your light shield! Calm down a bit."

"I know" I grumbled, "I just want to make sure that I have everything this time. Every year, I always manage to forget something and I want this year to be different."

Katie laughed and wandered back into the lounge. I heard Travis question what all the noise was about, she replied and he laughed. Katie and Travis were my foster parents. Since the influx of demigods from round the globe, there had been a greater increase in demigods with no parents and the camp hadn't been able to cope with the number of year-rounders. So Chiron had introduced the Foster Scheme. Basically, demigods that were 21 or over could foster a demigod during the breaks between camps and got paid to take care of them. It also helped to keep demigods in contact between each other. I had been fostered six months ago by Katie and Travis and it had been great.

Suddenly the door bell rang.

"Stall him!" I screeched to Katie and Travis and hurled back into my room to attempt to close my case.

I heard Katie and Travis open the door, invite Jamie in and they went into the kitchen. I stuffed a few more things into my case and began to zip it shut. To my surprise, it closed with relative ease. That probably meant that I'd forgotten something. I hauled my suitcase into the corridor and deposited it by the front door and then wandered into the kitchen.

Katie and Travis were leaning by the counter and talking to Jamie who sat at the table. I drew up a chair beside him and smiled at him.

Jamie smiled back, "Finally ready then?"

"Yeah"

"You haven't forgotten anything?"

I glared at him and he laughed. He drained the Coke that he had been drinking from the glass and got up. I got up and crossed the kitchen to give Katie and Travis a hug.

"Take care of yourself, kiddo" Travis said as he hugged me and ruffled my hair. I pushed his hand away and laughed. Katie laughed as well and also gave me a hug, without the ruining of my hair.

We went to the front door and I was suddenly hit by a wave of nostalgia. I had never left before to go to camp. Before I had been a year-rounder and this was the first year that I left to go to camp. I looked around the place and at the people that I had come to call close friends and realised that I was sad. That I didn't really want to go.

Katie seemed to sense this and she pulled me into a tight hug, "You call me the second you get to camp, okay?" She seemed a little tearful.

I hugged her back tightly, then pulled away, picked up my case and walked out the door without a backward glance. If I did look back, then I was sure that I was going to cry. We walked in silence out to where the taxi had been patiently waiting. I buoyed myself up with thoughts of camp and happiness. I could have a nice relaxing car ride with Jamie with no worries and we'd get to camp in time for dinner.

I slid into the car smoothly and let out a scream of shock.

"Geez Jameson, I know you're happy to see me but there's really no need to scream with excitement."

"What the hell are you doing here, Di Angelo?" I fumed furiously as I glared at him with unexpressed rage.

"Your brother invited me to share with you." He said as he slipped his sunglasses on and looked out the window.

I turned to Jamie, steam practically coming out my ears. He looked apologetic and mouthed "Sorry" at me. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed my I-Pod, stuffed the buds in my ears and glared moodily out the window.

The taxi pulled away and weaved through the New York traffic. It's was going to be a long drive as it appeared that everybody was headed out of the city for the weekend. Finally, the taxi began to head towards the city limits and I smiled with the knowledge that we were making progress towards camp and I could see my siblings and my friends.

It was one of those moments when I was genuinely happy and I had no thought of the dangers that continually surrounded me and the monsters that lay in wait. Of course, it was ruined. Now that I think back to it, I don't really remember how it happened. The taxi had picked up speed as the traffic became less and less and I was thinking that maybe this time we'd get to camp in time for dinner. There was an ungodly roar from the left side of the car, the taxi driver screamed- and then I was lying flat on the floor.

"Miriam, get up!" The screams and shouts were distant and far-off. The fog in my brain was difficult to throw off and my head hurt _so much. _

I sank back onto the pavement. Why was I lying in the middle of the road? Camp, car, drakon, crash... _oh shit_. It's then that there was a very loud stamp to the left that cracked all of the concrete around me and was followed closely by a stamp to the right. An ear-deafening roar came from somewhere above me and most the windows nearby shattered from the pitch and force.

My eyes refocused and I saw two yellow eyes looking directly down at me and am immediately paralysed. Drakons always look down at their victims so that they can't escape (all control was lost immediately). It's the oldest trick in the book and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. The shouts of Nico and Jamie permeated the atmosphere between me and the drakon. Their pleas for me to get up, to run, to save myself had no effect. I was going to die. In a moment of morbid curiosity that Nico would have been proud of, I wondered how it would kill me. Swallow me in one gulp or rip me to shreds?

The drakon sucked in a breath and I realised it was going to incinerate me instead which seemed terribly unfair. Children of Apollo were sort of resistant to fire. Not as resistant as children of Hephaestus but because the sun is a big ball of fire, it made us a little inured against it.

It readied itself to exhale and I prayed (for once) that someone would come and save me. I didn't want to die. Every demigod lives with the knowledge that they could die. Any day could be your last. There is always a chance that you could come up against a monster that you just can't fight or you become complacent and allow your guard to drop. Most demigods are okay with the idea of death. I am not. I am a high-achiever, always in pursuit of more. To die before I had achieved anything of notice was something appalling. _I don't want to die._

Then, a shield spiralled out above me attached to somebody's wrist, just as the drakon breathed out a firestorm. The heat was ridiculously intense and I cringed away from it. The hairs on my arm and head began to singe from the temperature. My saviour was curled over me, I am protected from the worst of it. I looked at the face and realised it was Percy Jackson. _What the hell is he doing here? _He was lucky. Being invulnerable as he was, a little bit of fire wasn't going to cause any major problems.

Percy shouted, "Nico, grab her! My shield's beginning to melt!"

Someone (probably Nico) seized me under the arms and dragged me away. He pulled me onto the sidewalk and loomed over me, scanned me for any sign of injury.

Satisfied that I wasn't going to bleed to death or something he shouted, "Stay here!" and ran off to help.

I lay there for a little while, feeling my limbs spring back to life after the drakon's control and then heaved myself up into a sitting position and took stock of the situation. Percy was right in the drakon's face, attempting to stab its eye out, while Nico was attempting to find weak links in its scales. However, he wasn't having much success owing to the fact that he kept having to dodge the drakon's barbed tail. Jamie shot repeatedly at the drakon, aiming for any weak link he saw and notching at least four arrows at a time.

I felt that I should help regardless of the fact that I couldn't actually see straight. I reached into my hair and quickly unclipped the pin that held it back. It was a burnished gold pin with three pearls laid into it. It looked like any other pin except for the fact that when I pressed any of the pearls it transformed into a celestial bronze shotgun.

I got up and charged into battle. I fired a shot as the soft underbelly of the drakon, but instead hit the side as it shifted. By a lucky fluke, it went in and the unearthly roar was enough to make me want to clap my hands over my ears. The drakon, still angry, swung it's barbed tail at me. I ducked and it hit the water hydrant next to me. The hydrant shattered completely, sending up a spray of water at least 20 metres high. One of the shards from the hydrant flew out towards my head. There wasn't enough time to duck so I raised my arm to protect myself and it embedded itself in the lower half. I shrieked in pain and stumbled back into a wall nearby.

The shard was stuck in fairly deep, but in these circumstances it would be easier to pull it out so that I could continue to fight. I yanked it out quickly, gritting my teeth, as pain blossomed up my arm.

The water was still pouring out of the hydrant and I had a eureka moment. If I could use the water as a slide, I could get right under the drakon's belly, maybe discharge a few shots, pop out the other side and give the others a chance to kill it.

I dragged myself up, backed up a bit and then hurled myself towards the water, praying to Poseidon that this would work. I did my best baseball slide and slid towards the drakon fast. Time seemed to slow as I moved closer and closer. Slipping right under the belly, I immediately began to discharge bullets. It was only a few seconds but it was enough to shoot at least four times. I slid out from under the belly and crashed into the pavement, immediately getting up and beginning to shoot again at the drakon's head.

If I had thought that the drakon had been roaring before, then I was clearly mistaken. The scream that it gave after I fired the shot was ungodly and caused me to clap my hands over my ears. Percy, Nico and Jamie did the same. I stumbled away from the others. It doesn't stop screaming and the windows around me started to shatter. I had to stop this before I was cut to shreds by flying glass. The drakon's mouth was open, a wide and gaping maw. I removed my hands from my ears, gripped my gun and began to fire into the mouth. Jamie got the idea and also began to fire arrows.

The drakon went rigid, eyes bulging and making a gesture like a cat choking on a hairball, and then collapsed dead on the ground.

I shouldered my gun and made my way towards Nico. He smiled at me and drew his lighter from his pocket. It was shaped like a skull and he popped the scalp and extended the flame towards the drakon's foot. It lit quickly and soon the whole carcass was alight.

We all stood there watching, breathing heavily as we come down from our adrenaline high. Fighting is a rush and nearly always involved some kind of near-death aspect. No wonder most demigods who regularly fight together get together. You feel closely connected to the person that you fight with.

Then, in the background, came the ominous siren sounds that alerted us to the fact that we'd been fighting in a once-busy street and everybody had scattered. I turned tail and ran towards the taxi. Thankfully, it was on its side and I popped the trunk and began to drag out the cases. The taxi driver wasn't in the car, probably run off somewhere. I was glad he was safe. Nico picked up the last case and dragged me over to a small, beat-up Mini. We climbed in, Percy threw the car into reverse and we sped off as quickly as possible.

It's then that I remembered my heavily bleeding arm. Percy wouldn't be best pleased if I got blood all over the car seats. I looked at my arm but there wasn't a cut there. It just seemed a bit red. _Maybe it was on my other arm. _I checked but it just looked like it always did, tanned and slightly muscular. I frowned. _Did I dream it? _I checked again, sliding my fingers up and down both to check for bumps and scar tissue but there was nothing. _I must have hallucinated or something. _How embarrassing. I hoped that Nico hadn't seen my mad-lady, clawing at my arms, moment. He'd never let me forget it if he had.

The car was dead silent as we drove out of the city and into the countryside. Percy constantly checked the rear-view mirror which seemed odd because there were no cars behind us, and then I realised he was looking at Nico. An angry and defensive Nico. He was squished into the corner of the car, arms crossed and looking out the window. His mouth was set in a flat, tense line. He was opposite Percy seats-wise and it seemed as though he was trying to create as much space as possible between them. There had clearly been a fight or an argument.

The sun was still fairly high in the sky and I deduced that it was about half four. Being able to tell the time by the sun was another of my genetic quirks. It saved money on watches.

Eventually, we reached Half-Blood Hill. Percy drew to a stop at the base of the hill that lead up and over to camp. Nico was up, out of the car, and had gotten his bag out of the trunk before I could blink. He started off up the hill.

Percy followed after him. "Nico, I just want to talk."

"There's nothing to fucking talk about!"

"Annabeth and I just felt-"

Nico interrupted him, "I don't give a shit about what you and Annabeth think because I just don't care about it."

"I'm really sorry, we-"

"No!" Nico turned around with an angry snarl, "You're not sorry and neither is Annabeth. I don't even know why I let myself think it would work." He sounded bitter. "You don't care about me and I don't care about you. Just leave me alone and have a nice life."

And with that he turned his back and stormed up the kill. Percy's shoulders slumped as he watched him go and I felt sorry for him. He'd clearly tried to apologise to Nico before but he hadn't succeeded. Nico held grudges intensely and for a long time and it would be a while before he was even prepared to listen to Percy.

Percy turned to walk back down to the car and Jamie and I grabbed our bags out of the trunk and walked to meet him. He looked sad.

"Thanks for the lift." Jamie said awkwardly as we walked past.

"That's okay." Percy said, sounding a little off.

I went to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm. "Miriam, I know that you and Nico aren't the best of friends, but I also know that he listens to your advice." He looked uncomfortable. "Could you tell him that I'm sorry and ask him to forgive me?"

I nodded, "Yeah, but I don't think he does listen to me."

Percy chuckled. "He does. More than you know."

I smiled at him and he smiled back. I walked past and began the slow trudge up the hill. Jamie had waited for me and immediately began to talk. I listened quietly as my mood swung between elation and worry. Elation for being as camp and seeing friends, and worry for my arm and Nico.

_Could life never be easy?_

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed! Read and review as always :)**


End file.
